How Your Fellow Marketers Do It Right

Winning sales & marketing best practices developed and deployed by installing security contractors across North America highlight the 17th Annual SAMMY Awards. Which companies took home the trophy hardware and what set them apart is detailed here. Takeaway tips and advice abound.

Being in the business of providing safety and security, Davenport, Iowa-based Per Mar Security Services wanted to provide customers with something useful for their everyday lives.

“One thing I think a lot of people have forgotten about is cars,” Per Mar Security Director of Corporate Support Tim Smith says. “We don’t do car alarms, but we wanted to do something to give our customers a sense of security.”

To that end the company came up with a safety pack that customers can keep in their vehicles. It includes jumper cables, gloves, lighting, a tire gauge, ponchos, a first aid kit, a call police flag, an accident guide and reflective road pyramids. SAMMY judges appreciated the kit’s handiness and practicality.

Per Mar leveraged its membership as a Honeywell First Alert Professional dealer to provide the promotional gift. Each branded kit would have cost $21.95; however, by utilizing the First Alert Cooperative Advertising Program, the company was able to shave off 50% per unit.

Per Mar provided participants of its customer survey with the safety pack as a thank you for completing the evaluation. Additionally, Per Mar installers, technicians and sales representatives will carry the kits to hand out to consumers on each job. In time, Per Mar will collect the top three stories where the kit assisted customers in an emergency and post them on the company’s Facebook page as a topic of discussion.

The giveaway has garnered a wealth of excellent feedback, Smith says. “Customers are appreciative we’re giving them something practical.”

J. Matthew Ladd, president of Exton, Pa.-based The Protection Bureau, sums up his company’s general marketing philosophy in two words: brand recognition. It’s a strategy that works well for the privately held company, which earns $15.5 million annually. In fact, brand recognition won The Protection Bureau the SAMMY for Best Vehicle Graphics Design.

The company recently added the Ford Transit Connect to its 67-vehicle fleet. To maintain the fleet’s uniformity, Ladd had the new vans painted with the same shade of blue as the other vehicles.

Ladd designed the graphics himself and worked with a local vendor to create the vinyl wrapping for the Transit Connects. The shape of the vans allowed for The Protection Bureau’s logo, which also garnered a SAMMY in 2007, to be prominently featured on virtually every part of the vehicle. Because most potential clients contact the company via the Internet, The Protection Bureau’s Web site address is located on the rear window and just above the front window.

To keep the design clean, the company opted not to cram all of its different services on the sides of the vehicles. Rather, a brief tagline reads, “Providing Security Solutions That Surpass All Others.” The Protection Bureau’s address and phone number are also listed on the vans.

For other companies seeking to add more vehicles to their fleets, Ladd offers a few suggestions: “Make sure every vehicle looks as much the same as possible. Don’t change the design every time you get a new vehicle. If all the trucks are different, then they will be unrecognizable. Remember, your goal is for people to say, ‘I see your trucks everywhere.’”